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Excerpts only. Nothing much on the Rams except a couple of remarks on Todd Gurley and Johnny Hekker near the end of the article. To read the whole article click the link below.
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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/01/02/nfl-coach-firings-playoff-wild-card-schedule-peter-king
A Fiery (and Firing) Finish to the NFL Regular Season
What Week 17 lacked in on-field drama it more than made up for on the sidelines. Here’s an inside look at all the coaching news and what may be next. Plus notes on a Packer’s prophecy, a wild-card breakdown and more
By Peter King
Fairly tumultuous first day of 2017. Black Monday rendered obsolete. Niners blown up. Struggling to keep from breaking down, Denver’s Super Bowl coach told his team he’s walking away. Picking an MVP is impossible; there should be eight of ’em. Tony Romo stepped on a field for the first time in 57 weeks, and if you blinked, you missed a great moment.
The Patriots, starting three quarterbacks this year including a 39-year-old one who is not of this earth, finished a league-best 14-2. Speaking of finishes, Steve Smith finished a career that lasted so long George Seifert coached him as a rookie. The Georgia Dome: finished (in the regular season). Chargers in San Diego: likely finished. Asshole Face: possibly finished … in New Orleans.
Nostradamus Rodgers: definitely not finished.
An hour after the Packers walked off the field with another NFC North title late Sunday night, I told Aaron Rodgers that no one will ever doubt him again, about anything he chooses to forecast. Not after calling his shot with the Packers 4-6, and saying he thought the team could run the table and go unbeaten the rest of the way and win the NFC North. Then they ran the table. So, I said toRodgers, obviously, you’ll never be wrong again, about anything.
“Yeah,” he said from Detroit, “well, I’m not sure about that. Tell that to my girlfriend.”
Rodgers laughed. Then he said: “I just thought at the time we needed a reminder of how good we are, and how close we were to being really good. We needed a jolt. I didn’t mind being the one to do it.”
Much more about Rodgers and his playoff-bound team in a bit. And about the other 11 teams, and the four wild-card games this weekend. First: Al Michaels said it Sunday night—Black Monday doesn’t exist this year. It got put out of business by Black December. So much to digest from a frantic weekend, starting with the demolition by the Bay.
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Jed York’s Silicon Valley startup
Chip Kelly was fired by the 49ers on Sunday, the second consecutive head coach dismissed after one season by the franchise.
Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
“I just think it’s time for us to re-establish a championship culture,” the 49ers CEO told me Sunday night, a half-hour after the team announced the firing of head coach Chip Kelly and GM Trent Baalke. The latter we saw coming. Kelly, we didn’t. “In order to do that, I thought we had to clean house.” The Niners look terrible right now, as terrible as their season (2-0 versus the Rams, 0-14 against all others). When they hire a new head coach, it’ll be their fourth in the span of 26 months. Think of it:
• December 2014: Jim Harbaugh finishes his fourth season, then he and York mutually part ways.
• 2015: Jim Tomsula era ends with 5-11 record.
• 2016: Chip Kelly era ends with a 2-14 record.
• Early 2017: Another coach is trotted out and says all the right things about returning Niners to glory. Eyes roll.
The 49ers are the first NFL team in the past 30 years to fire coaches after one season in consecutive years. Two reasons why this looks particularly bad: York has now dumped coaches after Week 17 three straight years; who will take this job knowing York’s itchy trigger finger, and who will take the GM job? And the Niners had to know Kelly was inheriting a bad defense and no quarterback, so why whack him after one year?
The new GM and coach—to be done, likely, in that order—will have one major advantage, as a coaching candidate pointed out to me late Sunday night: York will have to give the new team at least three years, presumably, to get a stunted franchise growing right. It sounded Sunday night like Kelly lost most or all of his allies in the building, including personnel man Tom Gamble.
“What went wrong, I think, was a disconnect at the top,” York said. “Not seeing the roster the same way, not being on the same page in personnel. That’s why I think it’s important to hit the reset button.”
I asked York how he thought he could get a good coach now, with the reputation of a team that gave up on the last two so fast. “People have felt like that before,” York said, “and we were able to hire a coach of the year, and GM of the year. And we were able to win a championship.” He referred to Bill Walsh winning coach of the year and the Super Bowl—35 years ago.
Bottom line: Fans won’t trust this franchise to put the right people in place until they see wins. Nor should they. These are the most important two hires York has made in his seven years running this franchise. When York goes on the road this month to interview candidates for these jobs, there will be some tarnish on the great Niners name.
It’s been 24 years since Joe Montana played there, and 17 since Steve Young did. They’re not walking back through that door. York’s got to find two men—one to mine the next great Niners quarterback, and one to coach him. Excepting Harbaugh, that hasn’t been easy for him.
“They’re going to do a 30-for-30 one day on the destruction of the franchise. I’ve talked to some people there, and there’s misery in that building.”
—Former 49ers staffer, to me on Sunday, on the state of the 49ers right now.
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What Happened in Denver
Gary Kubiak walked away from the Broncos on Sunday, citing concerns for his health.
Photo: Jack Dempsey/AP
Gary Kubiak gathered his players in the locker room Sunday after their last game and explained the inevitable: He was stepping away from coaching. Kubiak, 55, had a minor stroke three years ago while coaching the Texans, and he missed a game this season because of a malady called “complex migraine condition.” The demands of head-coaching just aren’t for him.
His doctor didn’t tell him to stop, nor did his wife. He just knew it wasn’t the right life for him, because he was too obsessive about it. The news had spread after an ESPN report in the morning, so it wasn’t a shock.
“If you remember one thing about me, remember this: It’s all about the team,” Kubiak told the players.
That’s what I’ll remember about Kubiak in this job. Before the 2015 season, John Elway hired his former backup to do a tough job—to coach a declining Peyton Manning for perhaps one more year in an offense that wasn’t perfect for him. As Manning struggled physically, Kubiak yanked him (gracefully) and inserted the green Brock Osweiler, stressing to Manning on the day of the yanking he had no business putting Manning in the game when he wasn’t fully healthy.
And then, when Osweiler wasn’t playing well a month later, and when Manning had improved physically, Kubiak reversed himself. Manning was in, Osweiler out. And Denver won a Super Bowl. Kubiak all along said he would only do what he thought was best for the team, not what the great Manning preferred.
And when Denver won the Super Bowl, Kubiak felt such ownership that, on the field as the confetti flew, he said his three sons could have the championship rings he’d won in previous coaching stints. “This one’s mine, baby! This one’s mine!” he exulted.
The ring meant something more to Kubiak because of the decisions he had to make, hard decisions involving one of the best players in history. And then this year Kubiak cemented his legacy in the eyes of Elway when training camp came around and three quarterbacks were in camp, and everyone assumed that Mark Sanchez would win the job, backed up by first-round pick Paxton Lynch, with 2015 seventh-rounder Trevor Siemian battling just to make the roster.
“I’m going to play the best guy,” Kubiak said all spring and summer. Just before the start of the season he picked Siemian. And though Siemian just had one of his biggest victories on Sunday, the quarterback looked glum when he met reporters. His champion was walking away.
“I owe him a lot, obviously,” Siemian said. “I had no business being drafted, no business really being around, so I owe him a lot for giving me a chance, getting me in the door and giving me a chance to play.”
It’ll be interesting to see which way Elway goes. It’s clear the Broncos want to keep their defensive staff, led by Wade Phillips, intact. It’s logical to think top offensive coaches will be candidates to replace Kubiak—son-of-Mike Atlanta coordinator Kyle Shanahan will be considered, and the Broncos are likely to speak with Buffalo interim coach Anthony Lynn and Miami defensive boss Vance Joseph. But it’s a wide-open field.
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Three More Coaching Nuggets
If the Chargers bolt for Los Angeles, they’ll do so without Mike McCoy, who was fired after two seasons as head coach.
Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
1. No mystery to what the Chargers did. Mike McCoy’s a good man, and he’ll be someone’s offensive coordinator (Baltimore?) in 2017 if he chooses that life. (He’s got one year left on his San Diego contract.) But the Chargers want new. They couldn’t go to Los Angeles (a move that’s highly likely) in 2017 with no major changes on a team that earned the cellar two years running in the AFC West.
The problem now, obviously, is finding the right coach for a transient team that’s gone 9-23 the past two years … and might play in the minor-league atmosphere of a 27,000-seat stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson for two years. It’s going to be a hard sell for a good coach—and for good free agents.
2. You know what struck me about these coach openings? There are no coaches everyone wants. If Stanford’s David Shaw were a candidate (he says he doesn’t want to leave college football right now), he’d likely get an NFL gig. Same with Nick Saban. I heard things Sunday night from teams like this: “There’s nobody out there who’s a slam-dunk guy.” … “We definitely don’t have a leader in the clubhouse.” … “Who do you really like?” (You know a team’s in trouble when it’s asking a sportswriter’s opinion.) …
And this: “There’s no one out there we love.” … You know why all that is good? Maybe teams will take their time—Jed York indicated to me he’ll be slow and wide-ranging with his two job searches, which he should be—and not rush the way most teams do every January.
Teams will do their homework on Shanahan and New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, as well as Joseph, Lynn, Payton, Dallas offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and other NFL assistants. But the fact is, there’s not a must-have in the market this year.
3. I’m not sure Josh McDaniels will go anywhere. Some coaches will take a head-coaching offer, almost regardless of the salary or the situation. I can’t see McDaniels, 40, doing that. Would you? Would you leave Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to get into what David Shaw calls “the spin cycle?” Make a few million, struggle to find and develop a quarterback in a losing situation, get fired, and then grasp at employment straws.
I’ve always thought McDaniels would take his second (and perhaps last) shot at an NFL job when he found a place with stable ownership/management and a quarterback. And a good chance to win, obviously. Where’s that job right now? It might be close in Los Angeles, if he could fall in love with Jared Goff or if he could finagle a way to deal for Jimmy Garoppolo. But I don’t see that job out there right now. And who’s to say any of these teams would want a coach who failed in his first shot at a head job in Denver?
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Wild-Card Lookahead
Encapsulating the four games in the first round of the NFL playoffs (all times Eastern):
Oakland (AFC fifth seed, 12-4) at Houston (fourth seed, 9-7), Saturday, 4:30 p.m., ESPN. It could be Connor Cook at Tom Savage, depending on injuries and concussion protocols. I bet ESPN’s loving that matchup. Of course, if form holds, the winner probably shouldn’t celebrate too long. The reward, if Pittsburgh, at home, beats Miami in the other AFC wild-card game, is a trip to play the well-rested Patriots in Foxboro on the Saturday night of the divisional round. Should be nice and frigid on Jan. 14 in Massachusetts.
Detroit (NFC sixth seed, 9-7) at Seattle (third seed, 10-5-1), Saturday, 8:15 p.m., NBC. The Lions need a running game and the explosive Matthew Stafford to show up, and neither has been around much recently. Detroit limps in having lost three straight, by an average of 12.7 points, with their foes scoring 30 a game. If the Lions had a pass-rush going, I’d give them a decent shot, because the Seahawks are struggling to keep Russell Wilson upright. But I think Seattle moves on here.
Miami (AFC sixth seed, 10-6) at Pittsburgh (third seed, 11-5), Sunday, 1:05 p.m., CBS. Ryan Tannehill may be back from his strained knee for this one. The last time Tannehill (and Jay Ajayi) faced Pittsburgh, in October, Miami won by 15, and Ajayi ran for 204 yards. But the Steelers have gotten stingier since that day, and a lot more physical. Pittsburgh could well be the AFC team capable of giving the Patriots their toughest game. That won’t mean much if the Steelers can’t contact Ajayi on Sunday.
New York Giants (NFC fifth seed, 11-5) at Green Bay (fourth seed, 10-6), Sunday, 4:40 p.m., FOX. Game of the weekend. The Giants have won at Lambeau Field in the playoffs on both of their recent Super Bowl runs—Eli Manning over Brett Favre in 2007, Manning over Aaron Rodgers in 2011. The Packers are so depleted in the secondary that Manning could have the same kind of game he’s had in previous trips to Wisconsin—he put up 60 points and turned it over just once in those two games. But Aaron Rodgers has rarely been this hot in his life. Should be a good, strategic game between two smart teams.
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They Are Leaving…
Baltimore wide receiver Steve Smith Sr.
Age: 37. Seasons: 16. Teams: Carolina, Baltimore. Claim to fame: One of the most competitive players in NFL history, Smith finishes seventh all-time in receiving yards.
From an interview with Smith as he rode the team bus to the airport in Cincinnati after Baltimore’s 27-10 season-ending loss to the Bengals:
“I got a text from my wife before the game. Meant a lot … I’ll read it to you: ‘Baby I know today is probably very emotional for you. But if your life is a book, this is just one chapter. It’s been one crazy roller coaster of a chapter. There’s a lot to be written now. I am excited to see what God has planned for you next. It will be different, but I believe it will be good. I am going to miss watching you play. Do your thing out there, one last time. I am proud and I love you very much.’ …
Right now, a weight has been lifted. How will it all turn out? I don’t know … One thing I know I will like is not trying to jam everything in before July, like, 17th anymore, hurrying to do things before training camp … What I am looking forward to NOT experiencing is the pressure to perform. I get in the huddle so often, and the linemen are like, ‘Hey Steve, we need a play.’ As you get older, the stress is more. That’s the part of the game that’s tough …
[On his legacy] People are gonna think, ‘He’s a thug, a punk.’ I’ve been called a lot of things. But I’d rather be known as a competitive guy, a tough guy, than a nice guy or a brown-noser … My kids miss me. I miss them … I am very happy. It’s not time for a new life. It’s time for a new direction.”
Indianapolis pass-rusher Robert Mathis
Age: 35. Seasons: 13. Teams: Indianapolis. Claim to fame: Quiet and classy, Mathis finishes 18th on the all-time sack list.
From his retirement press conference Friday:
“Indy, this is my home. I am a Colt, I am a blue blood, I am a brick-layer at Lucas Oil Stadium … I am here forever … I still hate quarterbacks. I still want to chase them. My passion for chasing quarterbacks is going to always be there, but my body won’t … You just have to be smart about it. Reggie Wayne and Edgerrin James, I talked to these guys and they said to listen to my body, and it’s time to listen to my body.”
Miami senior defensive assistant Jim Washburn
Age: 67. NFL coaching seasons: 18. Teams: Tennessee, Philadelphia, Detroit, Miami. Claim to fame: A colorful guy with a reputation for building great pass-rushes wherever he went.
From our conversation Saturday:
“I didn’t know I’d ever coach in the NFL, though I always wanted to be here. I got my first job at age 49, in Tennessee … That first year, we end up in the Super Bowl, and I feel someone jump on my back on the field before the game, and it’s Dick Vermeil. I loved that. Dick always was trying to help me get a job in the league …
I love Ndamukong Suh. I think he’s a Hall of Fame football player, and I love coaching him. … Really, I just love football. Today was my last team meeting with my guys. I talked to them about Alan Page, and about what a great player he was—173 sacks, 23 blocked kicks. I want them to know their heritage, and I don’t think players today know it very well.”
Minnesota linebacker Chad Greenway*
Age: 32. Seasons: 11. Teams: Minnesota. Claim to fame: Underrated and largely hidden for much his career, Greenway finishes as the fourth-leading tackler in 56-year history of the Vikings, behind Scott Studwell, Matt Blair and Jeff Siemon.
(*Tentative. He has hinted strongly at retirement.)
From our conversation Sunday, after what was likely his last game:
“Today I wanted to enjoy the day, remember the day … nothing official yet. It’s been a great 11 years, and now I want to be able to sit down with my wife and some people in the organization and take some time and think. … I love football now for the same reason I loved it when I started playing in seventh grade in South Dakota. It’s a team game. You have to rely on everyone else; they have to rely on you. …
Just my background—growing up on a farm in South Dakota, I so appreciate that I have had this opportunity. I always wanted to make my parents proud of me, and I still do, the same way I want my four kids to be proud of the way I play. … I want the name on the back of my uniform to stand for something.”
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Todd Gurley had 49 more carries in 2016 than his rookie season but rushed for 221 fewer yards.
Photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP
Todd Gurley didn’t have a 100-yard rushing game in 2016.
In his last 24 games, Gurley has exceeded 90 yards once.
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Name the player who had the best year of any player in the league at his position in 2016. It’s subjective, obviously, because how can you tell whether the best guard was better than the best wide receiver or best cornerback? You can’t. But it’s my column, and I’ll make this claim: Rams punter Johnny Hekker was the best player at his position in the NFL this year. Compare him to his peers.
• Net punting average: 46.1, and a huge edge over number two Sam Martin of Detroit (43.7).
• Punts inside the 20: 50. Number two: Dustin Colquitt of Kansas City (37).
• Average yards per return (on all punts, not just returned punts): 1.32. No other punter with at least 50 punts had less than 2.0 yards per return.
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Things I Think I Think
1. I think these are my quick notes of analysis from Week 17:
a. After watching Michael Floyd drag three Dolphins for the final five feet to his first touchdown as a Patriot, I thought he is doing his best to force his way into Josh McDaniels’ postseason game plans.
b. Mark Sanchez, 30, is going to need a great agent to have a job in the NFL in 2017.
c. Man, Houston is one weak division champ, and one weak home-field wild-card team.
d. And yet, wouldn’t you be surprised if the Texans lose the playoff game to the Derek Carr-less Raiders on Saturday?
e. Whoever John Harbaugh gets to coach the Ravens’ quarterbacks or coordinate the offense next season, it needs to be someone who will coach Joe Flacco hard; Flacco throws too many careless, costly picks for a quarterback of his stature.
f. Visual of the day, and maybe of the season: Eagles tight end Zach Ertz making a diving touchdown catch against Dallas at Lincoln Financial Field, getting up and celebrating with his teammates. He gives the ball to Carson Wentz, who finds American League MVP and Eagles season-ticket holder Mike Trout in the end zone seats and hands Trout the ball.
g. Talking about how times have changed in the NFL: Only one back this season carried the ball more than 300 times (Ezekiel Elliott, 322).
h. Sometimes history just rushes by, and we hardly notice: Sunday was the last regular-season game in the history of the Georgia Dome, quite possibly the last game as Saints coach for Asshole Face, and likely the last NFL game at Qualcomm Stadium.
i. Eli Manning is 2-0 in playoff games at Lambeau Field, which is a stat I trust you’re already sick of hearing if you live in Wisconsin.
j. By surveying the landscape, I can tell you the Jaguars’ head-coaching job is not quite as attractive as many in football might think, because there’s so little conviction in Blake Bortles as a long-term answer at quarterback.
2. I think I can’t see the Patriots trading Jimmy Garoppolo in the off-season. I can’t see Bill Belichick, who has to feel Garoppolo is the best chance for a long-term successor to Tom Brady (whenever that will happen) that he’s had, giving that up without trying to sign the third-year quarterback long-term.
The trick is how to do that, knowing Garoppolo has to be paid more than your typical insurance policy would be paid at quarterback. Insurance policies don’t normally make $10 million a year. This one might.
3. I think that’s not going to prevent teams—Cleveland and Chicago at least—from sniffing around the Patriots for Garoppolo very seriously.
4. I think it’s amazing that the Patriots started three different quarterbacks this year, had the whole Brady/Deflategate suspension thing to deal with, and dumped their two best front-seven players (Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins) … and won more games than any other team in football this year.
5. I think two things are humorous about what the masses are saying regarding the end of Chip Kelly: that his 26-21 record in Philadelphia was disastrous, and that any rube could see he’d never succeed in San Francisco with his schemes and his coaching. In Philadelphia he inherited a team that had gone 8-8 and 4-12 in Andy Reid’s last two years, then went 10-6, 10-6 and 6-9. He oversaw a dumb trade—LeSean McCoy to Buffalo.
After Kelly left, it couldn’t have been too disastrous, seeing that the Eagles had the pieces to trade up for their quarterback of the future, Carson Wentz, and got back their first-round pick in 2017 by trading the quarterback of the past, Sam Bradford, to Minnesota. Disastrous. Gimme a break. In San Francisco he inherited a team with no quarterback and the 31st-ranked defense in football, and a recent history of bad drafts. He went 2-14. Surprise!
6. I think I know why Nick Saban loves college football, and why he gave the NFL only a two-year trial (other than the fact he listened to his doctors in Miami in 2006 and swerved away from Drew Brees because of shoulder surgery and made Daunte Culpepper his quarterback instead): the fact that he can have teams with such depth at Alabama that a backup running back (third-string early in the season), Bo Scarbrough, could be the best player on the field in the national semifinal rout of Washington.
I still think Saban will take the NFL plunge again one day, but it’s easy to see why he stays, and why he may stay forever. The number three guy on your depth chart at some positions could be number one on all but a few top college teams.
7. I think the dumbest things filling football Twitter feeds in recent days were the debates over which teams should take which players at the top of the draft. Considering the draft is 115 days away and we don’t know which underclassmen will declare, hey, really great use of your time.
8. I think this is the essence of the madness: We’ve got people debating which quarterback-desperate franchise is going to get fixed for the next 15 years by a one-year starter at North Carolina who hasn’t said whether he’s coming out and I can guarantee hasn’t been vetted even a tenth of what teams will do if and when they need to make a decision on Mitch Trubisky. Is he likely to be a top 10 pick if he comes out? Yes. But no one knows by which team, because those teams have not studied him nearly enough.
9. I think this Tyrod Taylor weirdness in Buffalo—Rex Ryan loved him, the front office didn’t, the starting quarterback didn’t appear in a season highlight video (pretty hard to accomplish that)—points out how important it is for the personnel side of the building to be at least civil and team-oriented with the coaching side of the building.
Strong, opinionated people exist in coaching and scouting and salary-cap areas of a team. That’s good; that’s true on every team. But when there is such polar disagreement, the coach or the GM or both have to go. It was Rex Ryan’s time anyway, but particularly because the building was so divided.
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http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/01/02/nfl-coach-firings-playoff-wild-card-schedule-peter-king
A Fiery (and Firing) Finish to the NFL Regular Season
What Week 17 lacked in on-field drama it more than made up for on the sidelines. Here’s an inside look at all the coaching news and what may be next. Plus notes on a Packer’s prophecy, a wild-card breakdown and more
By Peter King
Fairly tumultuous first day of 2017. Black Monday rendered obsolete. Niners blown up. Struggling to keep from breaking down, Denver’s Super Bowl coach told his team he’s walking away. Picking an MVP is impossible; there should be eight of ’em. Tony Romo stepped on a field for the first time in 57 weeks, and if you blinked, you missed a great moment.
The Patriots, starting three quarterbacks this year including a 39-year-old one who is not of this earth, finished a league-best 14-2. Speaking of finishes, Steve Smith finished a career that lasted so long George Seifert coached him as a rookie. The Georgia Dome: finished (in the regular season). Chargers in San Diego: likely finished. Asshole Face: possibly finished … in New Orleans.
Nostradamus Rodgers: definitely not finished.
An hour after the Packers walked off the field with another NFC North title late Sunday night, I told Aaron Rodgers that no one will ever doubt him again, about anything he chooses to forecast. Not after calling his shot with the Packers 4-6, and saying he thought the team could run the table and go unbeaten the rest of the way and win the NFC North. Then they ran the table. So, I said toRodgers, obviously, you’ll never be wrong again, about anything.
“Yeah,” he said from Detroit, “well, I’m not sure about that. Tell that to my girlfriend.”
Rodgers laughed. Then he said: “I just thought at the time we needed a reminder of how good we are, and how close we were to being really good. We needed a jolt. I didn’t mind being the one to do it.”
Much more about Rodgers and his playoff-bound team in a bit. And about the other 11 teams, and the four wild-card games this weekend. First: Al Michaels said it Sunday night—Black Monday doesn’t exist this year. It got put out of business by Black December. So much to digest from a frantic weekend, starting with the demolition by the Bay.
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Jed York’s Silicon Valley startup
Chip Kelly was fired by the 49ers on Sunday, the second consecutive head coach dismissed after one season by the franchise.
Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
“I just think it’s time for us to re-establish a championship culture,” the 49ers CEO told me Sunday night, a half-hour after the team announced the firing of head coach Chip Kelly and GM Trent Baalke. The latter we saw coming. Kelly, we didn’t. “In order to do that, I thought we had to clean house.” The Niners look terrible right now, as terrible as their season (2-0 versus the Rams, 0-14 against all others). When they hire a new head coach, it’ll be their fourth in the span of 26 months. Think of it:
• December 2014: Jim Harbaugh finishes his fourth season, then he and York mutually part ways.
• 2015: Jim Tomsula era ends with 5-11 record.
• 2016: Chip Kelly era ends with a 2-14 record.
• Early 2017: Another coach is trotted out and says all the right things about returning Niners to glory. Eyes roll.
The 49ers are the first NFL team in the past 30 years to fire coaches after one season in consecutive years. Two reasons why this looks particularly bad: York has now dumped coaches after Week 17 three straight years; who will take this job knowing York’s itchy trigger finger, and who will take the GM job? And the Niners had to know Kelly was inheriting a bad defense and no quarterback, so why whack him after one year?
The new GM and coach—to be done, likely, in that order—will have one major advantage, as a coaching candidate pointed out to me late Sunday night: York will have to give the new team at least three years, presumably, to get a stunted franchise growing right. It sounded Sunday night like Kelly lost most or all of his allies in the building, including personnel man Tom Gamble.
“What went wrong, I think, was a disconnect at the top,” York said. “Not seeing the roster the same way, not being on the same page in personnel. That’s why I think it’s important to hit the reset button.”
I asked York how he thought he could get a good coach now, with the reputation of a team that gave up on the last two so fast. “People have felt like that before,” York said, “and we were able to hire a coach of the year, and GM of the year. And we were able to win a championship.” He referred to Bill Walsh winning coach of the year and the Super Bowl—35 years ago.
Bottom line: Fans won’t trust this franchise to put the right people in place until they see wins. Nor should they. These are the most important two hires York has made in his seven years running this franchise. When York goes on the road this month to interview candidates for these jobs, there will be some tarnish on the great Niners name.
It’s been 24 years since Joe Montana played there, and 17 since Steve Young did. They’re not walking back through that door. York’s got to find two men—one to mine the next great Niners quarterback, and one to coach him. Excepting Harbaugh, that hasn’t been easy for him.
“They’re going to do a 30-for-30 one day on the destruction of the franchise. I’ve talked to some people there, and there’s misery in that building.”
—Former 49ers staffer, to me on Sunday, on the state of the 49ers right now.
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What Happened in Denver
Gary Kubiak walked away from the Broncos on Sunday, citing concerns for his health.
Photo: Jack Dempsey/AP
Gary Kubiak gathered his players in the locker room Sunday after their last game and explained the inevitable: He was stepping away from coaching. Kubiak, 55, had a minor stroke three years ago while coaching the Texans, and he missed a game this season because of a malady called “complex migraine condition.” The demands of head-coaching just aren’t for him.
His doctor didn’t tell him to stop, nor did his wife. He just knew it wasn’t the right life for him, because he was too obsessive about it. The news had spread after an ESPN report in the morning, so it wasn’t a shock.
“If you remember one thing about me, remember this: It’s all about the team,” Kubiak told the players.
That’s what I’ll remember about Kubiak in this job. Before the 2015 season, John Elway hired his former backup to do a tough job—to coach a declining Peyton Manning for perhaps one more year in an offense that wasn’t perfect for him. As Manning struggled physically, Kubiak yanked him (gracefully) and inserted the green Brock Osweiler, stressing to Manning on the day of the yanking he had no business putting Manning in the game when he wasn’t fully healthy.
And then, when Osweiler wasn’t playing well a month later, and when Manning had improved physically, Kubiak reversed himself. Manning was in, Osweiler out. And Denver won a Super Bowl. Kubiak all along said he would only do what he thought was best for the team, not what the great Manning preferred.
And when Denver won the Super Bowl, Kubiak felt such ownership that, on the field as the confetti flew, he said his three sons could have the championship rings he’d won in previous coaching stints. “This one’s mine, baby! This one’s mine!” he exulted.
The ring meant something more to Kubiak because of the decisions he had to make, hard decisions involving one of the best players in history. And then this year Kubiak cemented his legacy in the eyes of Elway when training camp came around and three quarterbacks were in camp, and everyone assumed that Mark Sanchez would win the job, backed up by first-round pick Paxton Lynch, with 2015 seventh-rounder Trevor Siemian battling just to make the roster.
“I’m going to play the best guy,” Kubiak said all spring and summer. Just before the start of the season he picked Siemian. And though Siemian just had one of his biggest victories on Sunday, the quarterback looked glum when he met reporters. His champion was walking away.
“I owe him a lot, obviously,” Siemian said. “I had no business being drafted, no business really being around, so I owe him a lot for giving me a chance, getting me in the door and giving me a chance to play.”
It’ll be interesting to see which way Elway goes. It’s clear the Broncos want to keep their defensive staff, led by Wade Phillips, intact. It’s logical to think top offensive coaches will be candidates to replace Kubiak—son-of-Mike Atlanta coordinator Kyle Shanahan will be considered, and the Broncos are likely to speak with Buffalo interim coach Anthony Lynn and Miami defensive boss Vance Joseph. But it’s a wide-open field.
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Three More Coaching Nuggets
If the Chargers bolt for Los Angeles, they’ll do so without Mike McCoy, who was fired after two seasons as head coach.
Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images
1. No mystery to what the Chargers did. Mike McCoy’s a good man, and he’ll be someone’s offensive coordinator (Baltimore?) in 2017 if he chooses that life. (He’s got one year left on his San Diego contract.) But the Chargers want new. They couldn’t go to Los Angeles (a move that’s highly likely) in 2017 with no major changes on a team that earned the cellar two years running in the AFC West.
The problem now, obviously, is finding the right coach for a transient team that’s gone 9-23 the past two years … and might play in the minor-league atmosphere of a 27,000-seat stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson for two years. It’s going to be a hard sell for a good coach—and for good free agents.
2. You know what struck me about these coach openings? There are no coaches everyone wants. If Stanford’s David Shaw were a candidate (he says he doesn’t want to leave college football right now), he’d likely get an NFL gig. Same with Nick Saban. I heard things Sunday night from teams like this: “There’s nobody out there who’s a slam-dunk guy.” … “We definitely don’t have a leader in the clubhouse.” … “Who do you really like?” (You know a team’s in trouble when it’s asking a sportswriter’s opinion.) …
And this: “There’s no one out there we love.” … You know why all that is good? Maybe teams will take their time—Jed York indicated to me he’ll be slow and wide-ranging with his two job searches, which he should be—and not rush the way most teams do every January.
Teams will do their homework on Shanahan and New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, as well as Joseph, Lynn, Payton, Dallas offensive coordinator Scott Linehan and other NFL assistants. But the fact is, there’s not a must-have in the market this year.
3. I’m not sure Josh McDaniels will go anywhere. Some coaches will take a head-coaching offer, almost regardless of the salary or the situation. I can’t see McDaniels, 40, doing that. Would you? Would you leave Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to get into what David Shaw calls “the spin cycle?” Make a few million, struggle to find and develop a quarterback in a losing situation, get fired, and then grasp at employment straws.
I’ve always thought McDaniels would take his second (and perhaps last) shot at an NFL job when he found a place with stable ownership/management and a quarterback. And a good chance to win, obviously. Where’s that job right now? It might be close in Los Angeles, if he could fall in love with Jared Goff or if he could finagle a way to deal for Jimmy Garoppolo. But I don’t see that job out there right now. And who’s to say any of these teams would want a coach who failed in his first shot at a head job in Denver?
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Wild-Card Lookahead
Encapsulating the four games in the first round of the NFL playoffs (all times Eastern):
Oakland (AFC fifth seed, 12-4) at Houston (fourth seed, 9-7), Saturday, 4:30 p.m., ESPN. It could be Connor Cook at Tom Savage, depending on injuries and concussion protocols. I bet ESPN’s loving that matchup. Of course, if form holds, the winner probably shouldn’t celebrate too long. The reward, if Pittsburgh, at home, beats Miami in the other AFC wild-card game, is a trip to play the well-rested Patriots in Foxboro on the Saturday night of the divisional round. Should be nice and frigid on Jan. 14 in Massachusetts.
Detroit (NFC sixth seed, 9-7) at Seattle (third seed, 10-5-1), Saturday, 8:15 p.m., NBC. The Lions need a running game and the explosive Matthew Stafford to show up, and neither has been around much recently. Detroit limps in having lost three straight, by an average of 12.7 points, with their foes scoring 30 a game. If the Lions had a pass-rush going, I’d give them a decent shot, because the Seahawks are struggling to keep Russell Wilson upright. But I think Seattle moves on here.
Miami (AFC sixth seed, 10-6) at Pittsburgh (third seed, 11-5), Sunday, 1:05 p.m., CBS. Ryan Tannehill may be back from his strained knee for this one. The last time Tannehill (and Jay Ajayi) faced Pittsburgh, in October, Miami won by 15, and Ajayi ran for 204 yards. But the Steelers have gotten stingier since that day, and a lot more physical. Pittsburgh could well be the AFC team capable of giving the Patriots their toughest game. That won’t mean much if the Steelers can’t contact Ajayi on Sunday.
New York Giants (NFC fifth seed, 11-5) at Green Bay (fourth seed, 10-6), Sunday, 4:40 p.m., FOX. Game of the weekend. The Giants have won at Lambeau Field in the playoffs on both of their recent Super Bowl runs—Eli Manning over Brett Favre in 2007, Manning over Aaron Rodgers in 2011. The Packers are so depleted in the secondary that Manning could have the same kind of game he’s had in previous trips to Wisconsin—he put up 60 points and turned it over just once in those two games. But Aaron Rodgers has rarely been this hot in his life. Should be a good, strategic game between two smart teams.
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They Are Leaving…
Baltimore wide receiver Steve Smith Sr.
Age: 37. Seasons: 16. Teams: Carolina, Baltimore. Claim to fame: One of the most competitive players in NFL history, Smith finishes seventh all-time in receiving yards.
From an interview with Smith as he rode the team bus to the airport in Cincinnati after Baltimore’s 27-10 season-ending loss to the Bengals:
“I got a text from my wife before the game. Meant a lot … I’ll read it to you: ‘Baby I know today is probably very emotional for you. But if your life is a book, this is just one chapter. It’s been one crazy roller coaster of a chapter. There’s a lot to be written now. I am excited to see what God has planned for you next. It will be different, but I believe it will be good. I am going to miss watching you play. Do your thing out there, one last time. I am proud and I love you very much.’ …
Right now, a weight has been lifted. How will it all turn out? I don’t know … One thing I know I will like is not trying to jam everything in before July, like, 17th anymore, hurrying to do things before training camp … What I am looking forward to NOT experiencing is the pressure to perform. I get in the huddle so often, and the linemen are like, ‘Hey Steve, we need a play.’ As you get older, the stress is more. That’s the part of the game that’s tough …
[On his legacy] People are gonna think, ‘He’s a thug, a punk.’ I’ve been called a lot of things. But I’d rather be known as a competitive guy, a tough guy, than a nice guy or a brown-noser … My kids miss me. I miss them … I am very happy. It’s not time for a new life. It’s time for a new direction.”
Indianapolis pass-rusher Robert Mathis
Age: 35. Seasons: 13. Teams: Indianapolis. Claim to fame: Quiet and classy, Mathis finishes 18th on the all-time sack list.
From his retirement press conference Friday:
“Indy, this is my home. I am a Colt, I am a blue blood, I am a brick-layer at Lucas Oil Stadium … I am here forever … I still hate quarterbacks. I still want to chase them. My passion for chasing quarterbacks is going to always be there, but my body won’t … You just have to be smart about it. Reggie Wayne and Edgerrin James, I talked to these guys and they said to listen to my body, and it’s time to listen to my body.”
Miami senior defensive assistant Jim Washburn
Age: 67. NFL coaching seasons: 18. Teams: Tennessee, Philadelphia, Detroit, Miami. Claim to fame: A colorful guy with a reputation for building great pass-rushes wherever he went.
From our conversation Saturday:
“I didn’t know I’d ever coach in the NFL, though I always wanted to be here. I got my first job at age 49, in Tennessee … That first year, we end up in the Super Bowl, and I feel someone jump on my back on the field before the game, and it’s Dick Vermeil. I loved that. Dick always was trying to help me get a job in the league …
I love Ndamukong Suh. I think he’s a Hall of Fame football player, and I love coaching him. … Really, I just love football. Today was my last team meeting with my guys. I talked to them about Alan Page, and about what a great player he was—173 sacks, 23 blocked kicks. I want them to know their heritage, and I don’t think players today know it very well.”
Minnesota linebacker Chad Greenway*
Age: 32. Seasons: 11. Teams: Minnesota. Claim to fame: Underrated and largely hidden for much his career, Greenway finishes as the fourth-leading tackler in 56-year history of the Vikings, behind Scott Studwell, Matt Blair and Jeff Siemon.
(*Tentative. He has hinted strongly at retirement.)
From our conversation Sunday, after what was likely his last game:
“Today I wanted to enjoy the day, remember the day … nothing official yet. It’s been a great 11 years, and now I want to be able to sit down with my wife and some people in the organization and take some time and think. … I love football now for the same reason I loved it when I started playing in seventh grade in South Dakota. It’s a team game. You have to rely on everyone else; they have to rely on you. …
Just my background—growing up on a farm in South Dakota, I so appreciate that I have had this opportunity. I always wanted to make my parents proud of me, and I still do, the same way I want my four kids to be proud of the way I play. … I want the name on the back of my uniform to stand for something.”
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Todd Gurley had 49 more carries in 2016 than his rookie season but rushed for 221 fewer yards.
Photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP
Todd Gurley didn’t have a 100-yard rushing game in 2016.
In his last 24 games, Gurley has exceeded 90 yards once.
* * *
Name the player who had the best year of any player in the league at his position in 2016. It’s subjective, obviously, because how can you tell whether the best guard was better than the best wide receiver or best cornerback? You can’t. But it’s my column, and I’ll make this claim: Rams punter Johnny Hekker was the best player at his position in the NFL this year. Compare him to his peers.
• Net punting average: 46.1, and a huge edge over number two Sam Martin of Detroit (43.7).
• Punts inside the 20: 50. Number two: Dustin Colquitt of Kansas City (37).
• Average yards per return (on all punts, not just returned punts): 1.32. No other punter with at least 50 punts had less than 2.0 yards per return.
* * *
Things I Think I Think
1. I think these are my quick notes of analysis from Week 17:
a. After watching Michael Floyd drag three Dolphins for the final five feet to his first touchdown as a Patriot, I thought he is doing his best to force his way into Josh McDaniels’ postseason game plans.
b. Mark Sanchez, 30, is going to need a great agent to have a job in the NFL in 2017.
c. Man, Houston is one weak division champ, and one weak home-field wild-card team.
d. And yet, wouldn’t you be surprised if the Texans lose the playoff game to the Derek Carr-less Raiders on Saturday?
e. Whoever John Harbaugh gets to coach the Ravens’ quarterbacks or coordinate the offense next season, it needs to be someone who will coach Joe Flacco hard; Flacco throws too many careless, costly picks for a quarterback of his stature.
f. Visual of the day, and maybe of the season: Eagles tight end Zach Ertz making a diving touchdown catch against Dallas at Lincoln Financial Field, getting up and celebrating with his teammates. He gives the ball to Carson Wentz, who finds American League MVP and Eagles season-ticket holder Mike Trout in the end zone seats and hands Trout the ball.
g. Talking about how times have changed in the NFL: Only one back this season carried the ball more than 300 times (Ezekiel Elliott, 322).
h. Sometimes history just rushes by, and we hardly notice: Sunday was the last regular-season game in the history of the Georgia Dome, quite possibly the last game as Saints coach for Asshole Face, and likely the last NFL game at Qualcomm Stadium.
i. Eli Manning is 2-0 in playoff games at Lambeau Field, which is a stat I trust you’re already sick of hearing if you live in Wisconsin.
j. By surveying the landscape, I can tell you the Jaguars’ head-coaching job is not quite as attractive as many in football might think, because there’s so little conviction in Blake Bortles as a long-term answer at quarterback.
2. I think I can’t see the Patriots trading Jimmy Garoppolo in the off-season. I can’t see Bill Belichick, who has to feel Garoppolo is the best chance for a long-term successor to Tom Brady (whenever that will happen) that he’s had, giving that up without trying to sign the third-year quarterback long-term.
The trick is how to do that, knowing Garoppolo has to be paid more than your typical insurance policy would be paid at quarterback. Insurance policies don’t normally make $10 million a year. This one might.
3. I think that’s not going to prevent teams—Cleveland and Chicago at least—from sniffing around the Patriots for Garoppolo very seriously.
4. I think it’s amazing that the Patriots started three different quarterbacks this year, had the whole Brady/Deflategate suspension thing to deal with, and dumped their two best front-seven players (Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins) … and won more games than any other team in football this year.
5. I think two things are humorous about what the masses are saying regarding the end of Chip Kelly: that his 26-21 record in Philadelphia was disastrous, and that any rube could see he’d never succeed in San Francisco with his schemes and his coaching. In Philadelphia he inherited a team that had gone 8-8 and 4-12 in Andy Reid’s last two years, then went 10-6, 10-6 and 6-9. He oversaw a dumb trade—LeSean McCoy to Buffalo.
After Kelly left, it couldn’t have been too disastrous, seeing that the Eagles had the pieces to trade up for their quarterback of the future, Carson Wentz, and got back their first-round pick in 2017 by trading the quarterback of the past, Sam Bradford, to Minnesota. Disastrous. Gimme a break. In San Francisco he inherited a team with no quarterback and the 31st-ranked defense in football, and a recent history of bad drafts. He went 2-14. Surprise!
6. I think I know why Nick Saban loves college football, and why he gave the NFL only a two-year trial (other than the fact he listened to his doctors in Miami in 2006 and swerved away from Drew Brees because of shoulder surgery and made Daunte Culpepper his quarterback instead): the fact that he can have teams with such depth at Alabama that a backup running back (third-string early in the season), Bo Scarbrough, could be the best player on the field in the national semifinal rout of Washington.
I still think Saban will take the NFL plunge again one day, but it’s easy to see why he stays, and why he may stay forever. The number three guy on your depth chart at some positions could be number one on all but a few top college teams.
7. I think the dumbest things filling football Twitter feeds in recent days were the debates over which teams should take which players at the top of the draft. Considering the draft is 115 days away and we don’t know which underclassmen will declare, hey, really great use of your time.
8. I think this is the essence of the madness: We’ve got people debating which quarterback-desperate franchise is going to get fixed for the next 15 years by a one-year starter at North Carolina who hasn’t said whether he’s coming out and I can guarantee hasn’t been vetted even a tenth of what teams will do if and when they need to make a decision on Mitch Trubisky. Is he likely to be a top 10 pick if he comes out? Yes. But no one knows by which team, because those teams have not studied him nearly enough.
9. I think this Tyrod Taylor weirdness in Buffalo—Rex Ryan loved him, the front office didn’t, the starting quarterback didn’t appear in a season highlight video (pretty hard to accomplish that)—points out how important it is for the personnel side of the building to be at least civil and team-oriented with the coaching side of the building.
Strong, opinionated people exist in coaching and scouting and salary-cap areas of a team. That’s good; that’s true on every team. But when there is such polar disagreement, the coach or the GM or both have to go. It was Rex Ryan’s time anyway, but particularly because the building was so divided.
